Kingdom Hearts II Walkthrough & Strategy Guide

Published: Jan 31, 2006

Basics

Getting Started

Kingdom Hearts II is just as easy to control as the first one was. Seeing as it's still an action RPG, there are various opportunities to customize the combat of the characters you control. But first let's start with the basics.

Attacking and stuff . . .The basic attack button is the X BUTTON. There's a menu in the left-hand bottom corner from where you make all of your combat decisions. It's automatically set to attack, from which you deliver all of your hits with the X BUTTON. If you hit it several times in succession, this will carry out a combo attack. Jumping in the air and hitting the X BUTTON several times will deliver special "aerial combos." All of this evolves through-out the game, as different abilities will unlock after fighting certain enemies, and completing various events.

To jump, hit the CIRCLE BUTTON, and to block, hit the SQUARE BUTTON. Although jumping is pretty straightforward, blocking is not. To successfully block attacks, you have to hit SQUARE at exactly the right moment, which is hard to do in the chaos of KH2. I found it worked best when taking on certain bosses where you only had one visible attack to worry about at a given moment. But for the most part, a large part of the fights you'll get into will go faster if you just beat everyone to death.

Reaction CommandThroughout Kingdom Hearts II, there is a new ability called "Reaction" that allows Sora to do deliver specialized attacks. When the green TRIANGLE BUTTON flashes over the attack selection in the menu, press it, and an animated scene will play in where Sora attacks his enemy without you controlling him. More often then not, the challenge to using this is the timing required.

Sometimes, the Reaction Command is a simple animation, and other times, it's a mini-game of sorts. When you face-off against the Samurai Nobody, you initiate a mini-game with the enemy in where you take him on on-on-one. You're menu selections turn to question marks and you have to pick the right one to deliver a powerful slash. When fighting Shan-Yu, you may lock swords with him, and then muscle him down by rapidly pressing TRIANGLE. Just keep an eye-out for opportunties to use this feature. For simplicity, I refer to the "Reaction Command" as TRAINGLE BUTTON through-out the walkthrough.

Camera ControlIn KH2, all that R2 and L2 crap is out the window. If you want to get a lay of the land, just swing the camera around with the RIGHT analog stick. Other than that, the camera will follow behind whatever character you're controlling. There's also a first-person view available by hitting select.

Locking OnThis command is essential in KH2 because you'll often find yourself in a fighting frenzy, and it's tough to stay focused. If you hit R1, you'll target specific enemies. This way, the center of your world becomes that enemies, and all you have to do is keep moving forward and attacking. This also comes in handy if you happen to get hit, knocked back, and lose who you're fighting for a sec. Locking on will put you right back on track.

ItemsJust like the first KH, you have to manage your items by giving everyone their own personal stock to carry into battle with them. You can access the entire stock of items in the Items sub-menu found on the status screen. You'll primarily use potions and hi-potions with this feature. Keeping Donald and Goofy equipped with potions will ensure you'll always have them to help replenish your life in the heat of battle.

You can also access the AP Boosts you collect throughout the game from the main Item Stock. From here, you can decide which character gets which boosts, and then decide what abilities you want equipped. It pays to check the stock from time to time, as you might have AP Boosts in there you may have forgotten about.

MagicMagic pretty much works the same way it did in KH. You can access from the menu on the left hand of the screen. But that's hard to do in the heat of battle so. So your best off using the shortcut maneuver for accessing magic. During a fight, simply hold L1, and all your face button will become magic attacks. You can customize them any way you want by accessing them on the stats screen. Once you get "Cure," this will become the easiest way to heal yourself.

Save PointsThese are as straightforward as they come. When you want to save progress, go up to one of those glowing vesper-looking things and save. These are also useful for jumping to the world map to fly around to other worlds.

Character AttributesAll the characters in the game have five basic attributes:

Attribute

Description

HP

Hit Points, or the life bar in the right hand corner of the screen. You can extend it with special items.

MP

Magic Points, or the magic bar, just above the life bar. This determines how much juice you have to deliver magic attacks, limit attacks, and using cure magic. Use magic as often as you want because this bar replenishes fast.

AP

Ability Points. These are points you can spend on specialized skills for each character. By using AP Boost on someone, you can increase the amount of points they have to spend.

STR

This is basically strength, which determines how strong the attack of a character is.

DEF

This is defense, which is determines how affected a character is when they get hit.

Abilities

Here are everyone's abilities as stated by the game:

Donald

Ability (Points)

Description

Donald Fire (2)

Unleashes a firestorm that attacks

Donald Blizzard (2)

unleashes a barrage of ice at the enemy. MP Cost 10.

Donald Thunder (2)

Call down a bombardment of lightning bolts at your target. MP Cost 10.

A Limit Command that unleashes Goofy and Sora's joint attack Knocksmash. Consumes all of Sora's MP.

Draw (3)

Draws in and obtains nearby orbs. Equip to obtain far orbs.

Jackpot (4)

Increases drop rate of munny, HP and MP orbs. Equip the whole Party to further increase the drop rate.

Lucky Lucky (5)

Will bring luck by increasing the drop rate of items. Equip the whole Party to further increase the drop rate.

Item Boost (2)

Increases effect done by healing items on the field.

MP Rage (3)

Restores MP relative to the amount of damage taken. Equip more to increase the effect.

Defender (3)

Increases defense in a pinch.

Second Chance (4)

Ensures 1 HP remains after taking a massive hit.

Once More (4)

Ensures 1 HP remains after taking damage from a combo.

Auto Limit (1)

Automatically sets the Reaction Command to Limit, if Limit is usable.

Auto Change (5)

Automatically replaces fallen Party Members.

Hyper Healing (3)

Quickly revives a fallen Party Member and greatly restores their HP.

Auto Healing (3)

Restores HP while replaced by another Party Member with

Sora

Ability (Points)

Description

Guard (2)

Block and shoots back enemies with SQUARE.

Upper Slash (4)

Knock a target into the air during a combo with SQUARE

Horizontal Slash (2)

Attacks a target from left to right during a mid-air combo with SQUARE.

Finishing Leap (5)

Jumps high into the air while attacking at the end of a combo with SQUARE.

Retaliating Slash (3)

When knocked down, quickly regain balance and counterattacks with SQUARE.

Slapshot (2)

Rapidly attacks a target.

Dodge Slash (2)

Unleash an attack that deals damage to nearby enemies.

Slide Dash (2)

Instantly closes in on and attacks a far target.

Guard Break (3)

Unleashes a powerful finishing combo move that pierces through a target's guard.

Explosion (3)

Unleash a finishing combo move that knocks down several enemies. Damage dealt is relative to magic to magic skill.

Aerial Sweep (2)

Unleashes a powerful leaping attack on targets in mid-air.

Aerial Spiral (2)

Closes in on far targets in mid-air and unleashes spinning attacks.

Aerial Finish (3)

Unleashes a powerful finishing combo move to a single target in midair.

Counterguard (4)

Counterattacks nearby enemies with Attack while performing Guard.

Auto Valor (1)

Automatically sets the Reaction Command to Valor in a pinch , if Valor form is usable.

Auto Master (1)

Automatically sets the Reaction Command to Master in a pinch, if Master Form is usable.

Auto Summon (2)

When a friend is down, automatically sets the Reaction Command to Summon in column that contains Summon, if Summon is usable.

Trinity Limit (5)

A Limit Command that uses teamwork to unleash the powerful Trinity attack. Consumes all of Sora's MP.

Summon Boost (5)

Increases the amount of time the Summon will stay.

Sora's Drive Forms

Sora will have opportunities to unlock four different form in KH2 that unleashes considerable damages on enemies:

Valor Form: This is the first form you acquire from the fairies. Initiate this, and Sora will fight with two keyblades, His speed becomes fierce, while magic is rendered unusable. In order to access this form, you have to have Goofy active in your party.

Wisdom Form: This form is all about magic, as Sora slips and slides over the ground, shooting energy blasts at his enemies with his keyblade. You're rewarded with it after completing Timeless River. In order to access this form, you have to have Donald active in your party.

Master Form: This form acts like Valor Form accept it's way more powerful. You have all the speed and ferocity of Valor Form, with magic attacks included as well. You get it after you run into Mickey at Ansem's study. You have two swords again, one which floats in the air. Both Donald and Goofy are needed for this one.

Final Form: You unlock this form when you finish Memory Skyscraper. It will happen at random when you use any of the other forms. Once you unlock it, it's your to access whenever you want. You have two keyblades that float! You also have the ability to glide around.

Summons

Chicken Little: When you run into Merlin, he'll give you this summon. It give your first-person shooter controls. To fire, hit the X button. TRIANLE will push them back with a firecracker if they get to close.

Genie: You acquire Genie after the first Agrabah mission. You use him like a Limit attack, teaming up to do combos. You have four different attacks. Use all of the moves to get the most out of his appearance.

Stitch: you'll stitch after finding his Ukulele Charm in Ansem's study. He initially sits on your menu and shoots random enemies. If you hit X, he'll shoot enemies on cue, and SQUARE makes him to play a songs that hurts all the enemies on screen

Peter Pan: Peter and Tinkerbell unlock after getting the Feather Charm on the Interceptor in Port Royal. This is in the Ship Graveyard. Both comrades will chip in; Peter fighting for you and Tinkerbell healing you. For a combo limit attack hit TRIANGLE.